


Aloha i ka'ohana (Welcome to the Family)

by ElementalPower



Series: Aloha i ka'ohana [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-07-02 05:05:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15789534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementalPower/pseuds/ElementalPower
Summary: Governor Denning has not been too impressed with Five-O's processing of work, or rather their lack of. In order to fix this problem, he introduces a new member of the team, one that is making Danny feel slightly weird about her as if he has met her before.





	1. Chapter 1

Steve woke up to the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. There was a storm a week ago, and it seemed like it was finally moving away from the island. He got out of bed, slowly and carefully, making sure not to wake up his partner. Danno was grumpy in the morning if he hadn't slept as long as he wanted to.  
  
Steve to his dresser and put on a pair of swimming shorts. He walked out of the room, grabbing a towel from the linen closest on his way, and made it out on the lanai. The sky was clear with the beginning touches of the sunrise.  
  
He walked into the ocean until the water had reached him mid-chest. He made a small jump, in a pseudo dive. The water moving past him always had a way of making him feel at home. He felt like it could be out there for hours but couldn't. He stayed in the water until he saw the sun further up in the sky. He slowed down, making a few cool down laps before walking out.  
  
He made is way up to slope to the house, grabbing the towel from one of the patio chairs. He rubbed the fabric in his hair quickly. He opened the sliding door again and was greeted by the smell of coffee. Danny had his back towards him as he grabbed a cup of coffee. He was dressed in his usual attire of dress pants and a shirt. Steve was walking towards him when the Jersey native spoke up for the first time that morning.  
  
"If you try and hug me while you're still wet, you will sleep on the couch for a week."  
  
"I wasn't going to do that," Steve tried to assure him.  
  
The blonde man glanced over his shoulder as if daring Steve to continue along that train of thought. Steve gave him his innocent, I'm-not-trying-anthing look, that Danny didn't believe for one minute. "Go take a shower before we are late for work. Again."  
  
Steve didn't bother giving Danny a response. He knew they would be late if he continued along his line of thinking. He raced up the stairs and into the bathroom, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He took his standard three-minute shower before drying off quickly. He dressed in a T-shirt and cargo pants. He strapped his holster to this thigh and jogged his way downstairs.  
  
Danny was still in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of him. He looked much more aware that he had before. Steve walked up to him and hugged him from behind.  
  
"Get off of me, you animal," Danny muttered.  
  
"But you're so huggable," Steve joked.  
  
"You haven't even had coffee. You are much too awake."  
  
Steve continued to stand behind Danny, taking whatever bits Danny offered him and Danny leaned back. The moment was interrupted by the ringing of Steve's phone. He picked it up, not looking at the ID, saying "McGarrett" sternly into the phone.  
  
"Good morning, Commander," Governor Denning's voice came over the speaker. "I would like for you to come to my office this morning."  
  
"For any specific reason?" Steve asked, going over what Five-O had done since his last meeting with the governor. Nothing came to mind.  
  
"You'll find out when you get here." Denning didn't bother saying goodbye. He just hung up the phone.  
  
"Who was that?" Danny asked.  
  
"Denning. He wants to talk about something."  
  
"Maybe it has something to do with the grenade you threw into a suspect's car."  
  
"It wasn't a grenade; it was a smoke bomb. I wouldn't have done it if he would have just stopped driving."  
  
Danny just shook his head in despair. Yes, Steve had calmed down some, but he still had his moments. He moved to stand up and put the bowl in the sink to clean later on that night. "Time for you to go to Dennings, which means I actually get to drive my own car today."  
  
He walked to the front door with Steve trailing behind him. They each grabbed a set of keys from the bowl next to the door. Before Danny could open the door, he felt himself being turned around and pushed into the door. He looked at him to see Steve's playful face directly in front of his. "You're such a Neanderthal," he informed Steve.  
  
"You love me anyway," Steve said cheekily.  
  
"I don't what's wrong with me. Probably all of the explosions you've put me through."  
  
Steve leaned his head against Danny's and captured his mouth into a kiss. He prevented himself from making it deeper as they both had places to go. Once they started to lose their breaths, they let each other go and gasped for air.  
  
"Well, good morning to you too," Danny said as he gained the ability to breathe again, "but we really need to go. I really don't want to hear you complaining about how Denning was mad at you for being late." Danny gently pushed Steve off of him and opened the door.  
  
"I wouldn't have been late," Steve noted.  
  
"After putting the entire island at risk with your driving, I would hope not," Danny called over his shoulder. He hopped into the Camero and waving goodbye to Steve before taking off to the Five-O headquarters.  
  
Steve followed suit after locking the door and setting the alarm. He hopped into his truck and went the familiar path to City Hall. Steve had been there so many times that he could practically find his way there with his eyes closed.  
  
He entered the practically empty parking lot soon after leaving. He walked to way to the building surveying his surroundings as he went. There were a couple of people walking along the sidewalk, either talking on their phones or tourists going site seeing. There were a couple of people seating in the shade reading the day's newspaper.  
  
Steve walked into the building, feeling the cold air punch him in the face. For whatever reason, this building always had the air conditioning turned up way to high. He walked over to the receptionist who looked up at him with an unimpressed look. She pointed for him to sit on the couch and went back to work as he followed her order.  
  
He sat in the comfortable couches that were laying around the lobby. There were a couple more people there wearing professional attire. He jiggled his leg as he waited. There was no telling when Denning would actually call for him. He looked at the magazines that we sitting on tables. They were ones he had read before while waiting so there was nothing he could glean from them. In his head, he started to imagine dismantling his weapon, cleaning it, and putting it back together again. He did this over and over again with the many weapons that he had used over the years when he was called for by the receptionist.  
  
"The governor is ready to see you now," she said.  
  
Steve walked the hallway to the governor's office and walk right in. The governor was at his desk writing some document. The man didn't look up as Steve walked in. "I'm glad you could make it, Commander. We have something to discuss."  
  
"And that would be?" Steve asked him.  
  
"Why don't you sit down," Denning order of Steve finally looking up at the man.  
  
Steve took a seat in the chair in front of him, uncomfortable at having his back to the door way. Once he was sitting, Denning continued.  
  
"Commander, I have some concerns that I would like to discuss with you. Now, I realize that you will not let me exactly place a new person on your team per say, but I would still like more oversight."  
  
"What problems are you seeing?" Steve asked blankly.  
  
"Nothing too special. Problems that most police departments go through, especially those that are lacking personnel. There is a major backlog of all kinds of reports that that in a normal precinct would not be able to have without a major investigation. Now, I have already given you and your team some major leeway with your investigations, but some people are questioning you. Now, you were in the military, just think of this being civilian oversight. They won't be investigating, just doing administrative duties."  
  
"I'm guessing that you already have someone in mind."  
  
"I do. In fact, you can meet her right now." Denning turned towards the phone on his desk. He pressed a button on his desk, saying "Bring her in please" after a buzz was heard.  
  
Two minutes later the door was slowly opened. Steve turned behind him and saw who was coming in. The woman seemed to be peaking around the door rather than coming in. She had blonde hair tied up in a bun and seemed to be wearing a suit jacket.  
  
"Please, come in," Denning told the woman. She slowly walked in and waited for a beat before closing the door behind her. "Commander, this is Claire Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan, I would like for you to meet Commander Steve McGarrett."  
  
"Hello," Claire said while holding out her hand. "I recognize you from the news."  
  
"Nice to meet you as well," Steve said while shaking the woman's hand.  
  
"Now, there is some information I would like to talk to the two of you about," Denning said, gesturing for Claire to sit in the other seat in front of him.  
  
"Okay," she said timidly as she went to sit. "I'm a bit confused as to while Commander McGarrett is here. I thought I was just going to be another personal assistant."  
  
"You will. You'll just be the personal assistant for Five-O. You'll be working under that capacity of my office for them. You will be doing all of the administrative tasks, since of all the applicants, you were the most qualified and experienced. Instead of hiring multiple people, I will be hiring only one. I didn't write the exact position because I didn't want the wrong people applying for the job."  
  
"I guess that makes sense," Clair told him. "Did you know about this?" she asked Steve.  
  
"I found out just before you walked in."  
  
"I knew he would try and refuse if he knew beforehand," Denning explained. "Now, you've already signed all of the forms so everything is going to be left to you. I trust the two of you will make it work. Now, are there any questions I can answer for the two of you?"  
  
The room was quiet for a bit before Steve heard rustling beside him. Claire was sitting there, staring out into the air while she was thinking. Before he could ask what it was, a fluffy white cat was jumped into her lap before jumping on Denning's desk. The cat made as small little circle before it made itself comfortable, looking towards the two in front of it.  
  
"You have a cat?" Steve asked abruptly.  
  
"Yes," Claire said. "Will this be a problem? Is anyone allergic?"  
  
"Why do you have a cat?"  
  
"He's my ESA. He's been trained and everything so there's nothing you should worry about. He never misses his litterbox, and I'm completely willing to clean up after him if something were to happen."  
  
"I'm sure that the commander can work around that," Denning said to them. More forcefully at Steve, he continued. "It is against federal law to discriminate against someone with a support animal."  
  
"As long as the cat doesn't mess with a crime scene, I have no problem with it," Steve said reluctantly. Steve's phone started ringing and he felt a relief swell inside of him. "McGarrett, he said into the phone."  
  
"Got called into a scene that Duke wants us to take a look into," Danny's voice came from the other end. "And, no, this isn't to get you out of you meeting with Denning."  
  
"Where is it at? I'll be meet you guys there." Danny rattled off an address the Steve quickly put into his memory before he hung up. "I have a case to get to," Steve said, standing up preparing to leave as soon as dismissed.  
  
"That's fine, Commander," Dennings said. "I've said all that I would like to discuss with you."  
  
Turning towards Claire, he said, "I trust that you can make your way to the office."  
  
"Umm," Claire said with a blush on her face, "I don't have a car, and it's a couple of miles away."  
  
Both men looked at her with strange looks on their faces. Denning was the first one to speak up. "How have you been getting here then?"  
  
"The bus stop's about a ten-minute walk from here. Unfortunately, the bus stop over there has been rerouted somewhere else for the rest of the week."  
  
"I'm sure that McGarrett can give you a ride to the office from here," Dennings told the woman. "You may leave now."  
  
Hearing the clear dismissal in his voice, Claire stood up and grabbed her cat from Dennings desk and would have run to the door had it not been for the heels she was wearing. Steve was followed after her, his long legs keeping up with her easily.  
  
"I'm sorry about this," Claire said. "I'm probably intruding and what-not."  
  
"If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else." Steve knew that Denning would have something cooked up for him for a while. It was just a matter of time before he was let in on it."  
  
"I suppose, doesn't mean I don't feel bad and what-not."  
  
"There's nothing we can really do about it now, so we might as well make the most of it," Steve told her. "I'm also assuming that the position came with a background check."  
  
"Yes, I've had to practically unbury my entire life with the amount of paperwork and identification they asked for. Not having a driver's license or passport didn't make that easy in the slightest."  
  
"You don't have a passport?" Steve asked her. In today's time, it was practically unthinkable that someone wouldn't have one. It made him instantly suspicious.  
  
"I don't have the money to go anywhere, so why would I waste money on a passport?"  
  
It was a reasonable answer, Steve thought grudgingly. They had reached outside by this point. Steve was happy not being stuck in the heavily air-conditioned room. He quickly walked over to where his truck was parked knowing that Claire would be following closely behind him. He would like to be at the crime scene as soon as possible and get a feel for the area. He unlocked the truck and quickly hopped into the driver's seat. Claire put her cat into the truck first before lifting herself into the passenger's seat. Once buckled in and settled, Steve quickly raced to the crime scene. Claire, not use to his driving, had her hands gripped against the door and glove box in front of her in fear. Steve couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction but didn't let it show. Maybe if he showed he was as crazy as Danny thought he was, she would leave and Denning would forget about this little experiment.  
  
Steve reached the crime scene in record time. He parked his truck behind the Camero that was already present. On the other side of the street, he saw Lou's SUV and Kono's tiny car. Steve took the keys out of the engine and opened the door. Over his shoulder, he said, "Don't move."  
  
Before he could close the door behind him, he heard her mimicking him. Behind him, he heard the door opening. Instead of getting out of the truck like he expected, she just unbuckled herself and got comfortable, seeming to be talking to the cat in her arms. Steve walked ahead, making sure to gather everything he could from the scene. It was a nice neighborhood all things considered. The only thing seeming to disturb the peace was the string of vehicles lined the street. He walked into the house that he was led to. From the looks of things, everything was clean and immaculate until he took a couple of more steps inside. Directly to his left was Kono, leaning over a pool of blood, looking at things that were settling in the liquid.  
  
"What do we have?" Steve asked Kono as he walked up to her.  
  
Kono stood up and gave him the run down. "Wife comes in this morning, back from a business trip and sees this pool of blood immediately when she comes home. She goes looking around for her husband, who's nowhere in sight. Called HPD immediately."  
  
"Any specific reason why we were called?"  
  
"This guy, Bernard Lowry, works for the DoD and works on a lot of contracts. He is a very useful person to kidnap if someone wanted to get information of any kind. I've been trying to figure out what's in the blood. It's weird; that's all I can say. We'll probably need the techs to identify him."  
  
Behind Steve, he heard heavy steps coming down from the stairs behind him. "Well, other than the blood, there are no other sides of a disturbance," Lou said. "Wallet wasn't touched and a buncha valuables were still present. I would say that he was grabbed and put up a fight on the way out."  
  
"No signs of forced entry, meaning that he opened the door for his kidnappers," Chin continued.  
  
From another area of the house, Danny walked in looking at a stack of mail. "Any signs of threats?" Steve asked him.  
  
"Nope. Just a bunch of bills and junk mail." Danny informed them. "Our best option would be to find out why he would have been taken." Danny put the mail on a small table that was beside him. "Now, you have to tell us what Denning wanted."  
  
"Yeah, brah," Kono agreed. "He usually doesn't call you first thing in the morning."  
  
"Apparently, he is not completely satisfied with how we're doing, so he decided to input someone to babysit us."  
  
"I would have thought he would have learned that doesn't work for us," Chin said with a blank look on his face. If you looked at him closely, you could see the gears running through his house.  
  
"So do we get to meet them?" Lou asked.  
  
"She's outside," Steve said.  
  
"She?" Kono whooped. "I won't be alone!"  
  
The four guys chuckled at her. She did often bring up that there should be more women, but they could never agree on who would be a good fit for their team.  
  
Steve led the team outside as everyone else was taking their gloves off and throwing them in a nearby container that the techs brought with them. Steve walked along the side walked back to his truck, where he noticed that the door was still wide open. Through the window, they all could see the woman fanning herself with her hand. Kono was the first on to reach the truck and instantly starting talking to her. "Hi!"  
  
The woman screamed in shock at the newcomer she hadn't noticed walk up to her. After calming down a bit, she responded. "Hi...," she said, unsure of herself as she saw the four other guys coming up to them.  
  
"I'm Officer Kono Kalakaua. You can just call be Kono."  
  
"Claire Sullivan," the woman responded. "I just go by Claire."  
  
"So, those guys who are awkwardly standing there are Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Lou Grover, and I guess you've already met Steve." The guys waved hello as Kono pointed to each of them. "So, what are you going to be doing?"  
  
"I'm pretty much going to be the overworked secretary, I guess," Claire informed the group.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Chin asked.  
  
"Governor Denning wants me to do all of the scheduling of events, payroll, making sure paperwork is sent out in a timely manner, purchase supplies, keep a log of everyone who comes in and out, and be the first person of contact if anyone calls you, and probably more that he just hasn't come up with yet."  
  
Claire said all of this in one breath. Everyone was looking at her in shock at the amount of work that was now on this woman's shoulders.  
  
"You're doing the job of about five people," Lou told her.  
  
"When I signed the paperwork, I assumed that there would be other people around to help me with all of this but apparently not. I'm supposed to be making your lives easier and what not, but at least the pay is good."  
  
At this point, that cat sitting on Claire's lap let itself be known, making an annoyed meow at the people in front of them.  
  
"Aww, who's this cute little guy?" Kono asked her.  
  
"This is Stitch. He's get's really sassy when he's not the center of attention.  
  
Kono went closer up to that cat and started petting down his back. The cat lets out a satisfied purr at the attention that he was no receiving. "Well, you can always ask us for help," Kono continued. "Or Jerry. I'm not exactly sure what he does during the day."  
  
"That would be great. Thanks."  
  
"Us girls need to stick together." Turning towards her cousin, Kono announced "Chin, you've been kicked out of the car. I'm going back with my new best friend."  
  
She looped her arm into Claire's as she helped the woman out of the truck. Claire giggled as the two headed for the other side of the street. In a fake whisper that everyone could hear, Claire said "Thanks for that. I really don't want to see my breakfast again."  
  
"This will be interesting," Chin informed the members of the group left.  
  
"We really don't need Kono making another version of herself," Lou agreed. "We should probably go after them before they get too far."  
  
Lou and Chin ran away to Lou's SUV in order to go after the women quickly, leaving Steve and Danny standing alone.  
  
"You've been quiet," Steve noted. "That's unusual for you."  
  
"I think I know her."  
  
"Really?" Steve asked with interest.  
  
"I feel like I know her; I just can't place it."  
  
"The governor did a background check, but we can always have Chin do a deeper search. He had it sound like it was random, but anything is possible."  
  
"That'd be a good idea. I'll feel better once I could place her," Danny looked at Steve gratefully. "For now, we have a kidnapping to solve. See you at the office, babe."  
  
Danny finished by giving Steve a small smirk, giving the Camero keys a slight shake. Steve just shook his head, letting Danny have it for just today, before heading to the other side of his truck.


	2. Chapter 2

As Steve walked up the stairs to the office, he noticed his entire team standing in front of the glass doors. Opening the doors, he could hear a slight ruckus of things being dragged across the floor. "What's going on here?"  
  
"Apparently while we were gone, they decided to let themselves in here," Lou answered.  
  
Looking over the man shoulders, he could see people from maintenance moving a desk out to the front empty area as well as setting a computer.  
  
"Seems a bit weird to me," Chin stated.  
  
"I said the same thing," Jerry said from off to the side.  
  
"I highly doubt that Denning made sure that something happened to get us out of the office," Kono retorted.  
  
"It might not have been him directly, but there are forces at work here."  
  
As much as Steve didn't want to agree with Jerry on something like this, there was something that was just rolling around in the back of his head. First, the lack of identification and then Danny knowing Claire from somewhere. Something just wasn't adding up. Soon the men left, pushing by the team.  
  
Claire stepped up from the next to Kono towards her new desk. There was now a nameplate with her name on it, under it saying "assistant." She rounded the desk to see a large stack of papers already on the desk. Flipping through it, she realizes that it was basically a to-do list. She picked up the stack and placed it in the corner of the desk so that she had room to work. "Looks like I'm already behind," she said with a grimace.  
  
The team cringed at the stack of papers that appeared in front of them. Claire started to look through the stack of papers more closely before she realized that the team was still standing in front of her. "You guys can go work on whatever the case is. I'll have somewhat of a handle of this by the end of the day," before looking back at the papers in front of her.  
  
Jerry walked awkwardly out of the room towards his office down in the basement while the rest of the team walked towards the massive computer in the middle of the office. Chin started to fiddle with it bringing photos and paperwork on the screen.  
  
"Bernard Lowry," Chin started. "Fifty years old. Wife and two children, both away at college. He's a DoD contractor, but I'm not given any specifics. We'll probably have to talk to them in hopes that they tell us something. Given his background and previous work experience, it probably has something to do with software development."  
  
"If he has the low down on some software the government's pushing out, he would be really valuable," Lou said to the group.  
  
"Was there anything, in particular, he worked on before becoming a contractor?" Danny asked.  
  
After a few button presses, Chin spoke up with the answer. "It seems at the company he worked at prior he worked in security. I suppose it would be too hard to jump to the DoD wanted him to as well."  
  
"Has there many anything new that was announced recently that someone would want to get their hands on?" Kono asked next.  
  
"Not necessarily," Chin started, face looking determined as he looked at the screen as he swiped along the touch screen in front of him. "There's always talk about system upgrades and probably things that are kept quiet from the public. It could be possibly anything at this point."  
  
"I'll see if I can get anyone to talk to me," Steve told the team. "Chin, Danny, look more into this guy's background that may give us clues as to who would want him or for what. Kono, Lou, go back to see if you can get anything from the wife and neighbors. He probably wasn't supposed to say anything but he might have accidentally slipped something."  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement. Kono and Lou headed towards the entrance, Danny took a step closer to Chin to see everything the man had pulled up, and Steve talked into his office, hoping that at least one of his many contacts could give him the answers they were looking for.  


* * *

  
It was two hours later when Steve got some portion of an answer. It was in depth, but Lowry's work had to deal with servers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. When he looked up, he saw Lou and Kono making their way back. He stood up from behind his desk and walked out into the main area. Danny and Chin looked up towards him while Lou and Kono made their way towards him.  
  
"Did you get anything?" Danny asked.  
  
"The most I got out of something to deal with servers. Nothing more explicit. He could be doing anything at this point. What did you guys find out," Steve said the last bit to Kono and Lou.  
  
"The guy has pretty loose lips when he's been drinking," Lou started.  
  
"Yeah," Kono agreed. "He had a habit of telling his wife a little too much information but had laid off on the alcohol. Well, until last week."  
  
"What happened last week?" Danny asked.  
  
"He and the missus had a bit of an argument," Lou answered. "Typically married people stuff: finances, travel, et cetera."  
  
"Apparently Lowry got a bit peeved and left," Kono continued. "When he came back home, he reeked of alcohol. Next day, he sobered up, apologized, and the rest was history. The wife believes that if anyone were to know, it was someone where ever he went to."  
  
"What night did she say this was?" Chin asked, tapping away at the screen.  
  
"Last Tuesday," Kono answered.  
  
"Well, looking at his banking statement, he was at a bar on the edge of town. Kinda seedy, but it would have been the closest one to where he lived. It's about ten-twenty minutes, walking distance."  
  
"So it might have been a place he regularly went to," Danny stated.  
  
"It a definite. He went about once to twice a week. From these charges, it was maybe one or two drinks. For a man his size, it wouldn't have affected him much. Last Tuesday, however, I don't even want to know what he was drinking to get this kind of bill."  
  
"Maybe it wasn't just him," Lou suggested.  
  
"Let's go talk to the bartender," Steve said. "Danno, you're with me."  
  
"As if I was going to let you question people by yourself," Danny murmured behind him.  
  
As the two of them approached the front, the looked over the side and found Claire sitting in the floor, papers out in front of her in four piles.  
  
"What are you doing?" Steve asked.  
  
"Organizing," she responded.  
  
"Doesn't look like you're doing anything."  
  
"Of course it wouldn't to your simple mind. From left to right, it's not important and important. Going down, it's not urgent and urgent. It's a thing. You can google it."  
  
Claire said all this without once looking up from her task at hand. Steve stared at her for a bit, before he felt himself being dragged by Danny. Once out of the door he spoke. "Seems like you found someone who won't bow down to 'tell-me-everything' glare.  
  
"I don't have a glare that says anything," Steve retorted.  
  
"You have many glares. The one you get when you are threatening to throw a suspect off of the roof. The one you get when you didn't get your way with Dennings. There are many more, but I'm not going to tell you."  
  
"How about I just use my 'tell-me-everything" glare?"  
  
"It doesn't work on me, buddy. It's the strong-willed New Jersian in me."  
  
"Sure it is..." Steve elongated.  
  
At this point, they were out in the parking lot, making their way towards the Camaro. How his keys appeared in Steve's hand would forever be a mystery to Danny.


End file.
